


When the Moon meets the Morning

by jadethestone



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Dreams, Dreamwalking, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional Overload, First Meetings, Fluff, Gen, JJ is a nasty man, Magic, rottmnt fantasy au, self-deprecation, some minor harrowing moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:07:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26454631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jadethestone/pseuds/jadethestone
Summary: Raphael is going on missions with Captain Jupiter as he always does when he meets an orange-wearing turtle yokai who feels oddly familiar.
Relationships: Michelangelo & Raphael (TMNT)
Comments: 52
Kudos: 98
Collections: The Messenger The Hunter The Prince and The Thief





	1. Prologue - Void

**Author's Note:**

> For the [Fantasy AU](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/RotTMNTFantasyAU/works), originally created by [tiramisu_art](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiramisu_art/pseuds/tiramisu_art).
> 
> Big thanks to [CharmyWizard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharmyWizard/pseuds/CharmyWizard), [fraymotif](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fraymotif/pseuds/fraymotif), and [frasierverse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxybrainhaver/pseuds/frasierverse) for helping me workshop this.

Raphael's eyes snap open. He's in his room in his bed. He gets out of bed, but instead of his pajamas, he's in his usual bounty hunting outfit and gear; long cloak covering his spikey shell. The walls to his room are non-existent, but instead of overlooking the cliff-face that Captain Jupiter's headquarters (and thus Raph's own little nook) are positioned on, there is nothing but void. A mirror floats in the nothingness of the wall. Raph goes to look in it. His red mask stands out on his green skin. But instead of his normally yellow sclera and warm green irises, his eyes are glowing red like a full blood moon surrounded by a pitch black night. He turns away from the mirror but the reflection stays and gives an animalistic snarl; snaggletooth gnashing on the other side of the glass. 

Raph hears a crying to his right. He follows the sound and passes through the darkness in one of the far walls that are not walls. In the darkness there is a figure laying on the floor surrounded by a faded glow that is pulsing in time with the whimpering sound. Something like worry twists in Raph's heart - a need to protect the figure, keep them from harm, make them happy. The figure looks like it has a shell, like Raph’s but without the spikes, and has similarly green skin. Another turtle yokai, maybe? An orange scarf floats around them like some sort of protective circle, but it offers no defense from whatever is plaguing the figure and causing their quiet sobs. Raph reaches out a hand, glowing a soft red with the power of one of his protective wards, and places it gently on the shaking form. The yokai's head turns towards him, and Raph can see a hint of some yellow freckles on the figure's cheeks before a blinding flash of light hits him and Raphael's eyes once again snap open.

This time he is in his real room, with real walls. He blinks. Why would the walls not be real? There is a knocking on his door and Captain Jupiter comes in with his sidekick, Red Fox, at his side.

"Come on, scamp," the Captain calls to Raph in a booming voice; a wide smile on his features. "We've got a mission!"


	2. Fire under the Blood Moon

The thing about the Unforgiving North was that despite its reputation for being an icy snowscape it wasn't always cold and unforgiving. Sure the summers were maybe only a few weeks long and their spring was just an extended period of slush and snowmelt, but there was a time in the fall where the temperature was okay and not everything was covered in snow. Unfortunately, it was also a time where there was barely any rain either, and all the dry, dead leaves made all too good kindling for causing forest fires, much like the one that Raph had found himself in the middle of combating at the moment.

James Jupiter, the famed heroic bounty hunter, had gotten the call that the nearby forest had caught on fire due to some folks using mushroom fires irresponsibly. It was threatening the neighboring town of Bedu, as well as a group of small woodcutter huts and cabins that were within the forest's borders. As usual it was up to Captain Jupiter, his trusty sidekick Red Fox, and his protege, Raphael the “Red Angel of Preventing Harm” to save the day. Or the night rather. 

Raph can feel his power swelling with the rise of the moon as he forms large red projections of his arms down a path among the trees blocking the flames to allow a family from one of the huts to pass through. Raph hears some screams behind him. He sees the Captain at the edge of the forest patiently directing everyone to safety with a confident smirk. The entire night he had been there greeting everyone that Raphael and Red Fox had brought out of the flames and giving them a strong guiding hand, letting them know that everything is going to be okay. Raph thinks wistfully for a moment what it must be like to have that confidence. He could use some of that right about now. He waits until he sees the family make it past the flames to dispel his corporeal magic into a smaller shield around himself. The heat is strong and he wishes he doesn't have his heavy cloak on him, but his shielding spell is at least enough to keep the fire at bay. 

He turns towards where he heard the screams. He sees a child in a clearing wreathed with flames looking scared, with desperate eyes scanning the canopies. They look to be like some sort of squirrel yokai. He rushes over, batting away the flames with his magical aura formed into large hands as he goes.

When he reaches the child he imagines how the Captain would act in this situation and he puts on his most heroic face and states in his most heroic voice, "Don't worry, the Red Angel of Preventing Harm is here to save you!" The child stops crying momentarily and gives him a look of confusion. Raph falters. "Er, along with Captain James Jupiter..." That last part seems to make the child perk up and they manage a weak, tear-stained smile. They point a shaky finger up to the trees and say "My family is still up there!"

Raph looks up to see a literal treehouse, mostly in flames with at least half a dozen scared faces of squirrel yokai poking out. That's a lot of people, Raph thinks. It'll be hard to carry them all. But they're small, so Raph can handle it. Probably. With resolve and in a voice more confident than he feels, he calls to the family shouting above the flames, "Jump down! I will catch you!"

The yokai look at each other worriedly, so Raph lifts up his hands allowing his arm projections to expand and cupping his transparent red hands in a makeshift cushion for the family to land on. The family of, five, six, seven, Raph counts, leaps down into his waiting arms. As he lowers them to safety, he hears a cracking sound and sees the tree that the family just leapt from wobble dangerously. There's no time to wait for the family to get their bearings, so he just lifts them all up onto his broad shoulders, and grabs the child around the waist, and flings himself and the family out of the way of the collapsing tree; the rush of flames from the falling branches licking at his heels and tail as he runs. With him focusing on trying to carry the panicky family, it does not allow him much room to maneuver through the fiery forest, and his concentration on trying to avoid the flames prevents him from accessing his magic effectively. Still he does the best he can to move around the burning trees. He thinks he sees a path out, but then he hears a moan. Raph scans the forest and sees another young yokai - some sort of lizard - on the ground and looking very out of it. A nearby fallen tree branch tells him that maybe they got hit in the head. If Raph gets the family out of the forest, he may not be able to make it back to the lizard. But if he grabs the lizard, then both he and the folks he's carrying may not make it out. Raph doesn’t hesitate in his decision.

Raph rushes over to the lizard yokai, and, having no hands left to carry him, bends down and grasps a fold of his clothing in his teeth. Sometimes it's handy to have the strong jaws of a snapping turtle. There’s some more creaking from above and several large limbs from the trees fall down towards Raph and the people he’s carrying. There’s no time to dodge out of the way, and with so many people, he doesn’t think he can. So Raph stands his ground. His eyes darken over, and where his iris and pupil would normally be the shape of a blood-red moon appears, glowing even brighter than the fire surrounding him. He takes a deep breath, and wills his magic form around him. A red projection, mimicking his body’s shape and features, grows from him and surrounds both himself and the yokai he is protecting. Raph grunts as he forces the magic to hold as the blazing branches glance off of it. When the barrage of burning wood stops, Raph shakes off any errant cinders and dissipates his large red form.

He whirls around to try to get back to the path to safety but he can no longer see it. Everything is in flames now and the heat is really starting to get to him. The smoke is stinging his eyes, and he takes some heavy breaths through his nose, trying not to choke on the hot air or on his own rising anxiety. What would the Captain do in this situation? Would someone like him let a stupid fire stop him? Would he be disappointed at Raph for the tears threatening to spill over right now? They're from the smoke, not fear, Raph tells himself, of course, but his mind still conjures that disappointed look of the Captain in his brain. Raph has to remind himself to not bite down hard on the fabric that is in his mouth keeping the lizard yokai in place.

That's when he sees a flash of green through the blaze.

There's a section within the maelstrom of fire that contains no flames. A pocket of darker coolness that is inhabited by a freckle-faced yokai. He looks to be about Raph's age, maybe a little younger, and definitely much smaller. But he's wearing this brilliant smile and seems to be completely unfazed by the situation he's in. The boy cups a hand over his mouth and flames seem to come from it. Anger fills Raph’s gut and he's about to shout at the yokai as he momentarily thinks that the guy is adding to his troubles. However, Raph stops when he realizes that the kid is not breathing out fire, but sucking it in. 

The yokai's already round face puffs out and becomes rounder as if storing the fire in his cheeks. The yellow freckles on his face stand out on his green skin, even among the yellow flames. The boy pulls in a deep breath, extinguishing enough of the fire to allow for a path out of the forest and to safety. Raph looks at the boy in wonder for just a second as he looks over cheerfully at him and winks. A sense of familiarity comes over Raph as he looks at the yokai. He's not sure why, but Raph is sure that he's a turtle yokai despite his orange clothes covering up where his shell would be. The smaller turtle yokai gives an "after you" gesture at Raph which snaps him out of his thoughts, and he quickly barrels through the burnt, but no longer flaming, woods.

He makes it out to where Captain Jupiter is still directing folks to safety. Once in the clear, Raph heaves a huge sigh of relief and lowers his load to the ground. The family of squirrel yokai scramble off of him and quickly go over to the Captain, excited to meet the famed hero. Captain Jupiter soaks in the praise and pats the heads of the younger yokai as he sends them on their way. Man, the Captain is so cool, just remaining calm this whole time, Raph thinks. He doesn’t even look like he’s got a burn on him - not even singed clothing! That’s in direct contrast to Raph’s soot stained clothes, and dirty face and claws, which he now feels somewhat self-conscious about as the Captain looks over to him.

The Captain gives Raph a toothy grin. "What have you got there, my boy," he says, smile fading into a grimace, "...in your teeth?”

Raph raises his brow realizing he’s still carrying the lizard yokai. He opens his mouth and gently places the young yokai in his arms, taking care to cradle his injured head. "Oh, um," Raph starts nervously. The Captain didn't like it when he used his more turtle-y features. "I, uh, ran out of arms to carry people with," he explains.

The Captain gives a discouraging look. “Remember, lad, ‘act like a monster, become a monster,’” he says tapping at his own teeth where Raph’s snaggletooth would be. He waves over his sidekick that Raph only just noticed was there, "Better let Red Fox take him then. Don't want you injuring him further, after all."

"Ah yeah," Raph says, wilting a bit as he lowers the lizard guy down to the sweet-faced red panda yokai in question. She’s also covered in no small amount of soot, and he can see some of her normally tidy auburn fur is lightly singed.

Red Fox looks up to him in concern and asks in her usual motherly tone, "Are you hurt?" She sniffs the air around him as if trying to discern his state by smell, causing the pink scar above her nose to crinkle and stand out behind the soot dusting her face.

Raph gives what he hopes is an encouraging smile and says, "Yeah, I'm fine." He gestures behind him to where he last saw the turtle yokai, saying, "It was really thanks to--" but he cuts himself off when he sees that no one is there. "Where did he go?" Raph asks himself.

There was a turtle yokai there, wasn't there? The smoke and fire hadn’t messed with his brain that much, had they? His thoughts are interrupted when he hears the Captain give his usual rundown of the situation. "Well that seems to be everybody, and it even seems as though the fire is dying down now, so that is some luck. All families are accounted for thanks to my steady guidance. Red Fox did well to listen to my commands, too. But kid, please do not rush off into the woods recklessly again, it may be too much to handle for a protege like yourself."

Raph’s shoulders sag under the Captain’s criticisms, but gives a "Yessir" all the same.

The Captain turns away to gather the victims of the fire to him, gaining statements and directing them to the necessary healing houses if need be. Raph watches on, and not for the first time tries to imagine what it's like to have such a leaderly tone that folks automatically respect.

He feels a warm hand placed on his own and he looks down to see Red Fox giving him a proud grin, "You did great out there, Raphael."

A smile spreads on Raph's face at her words and she gives a wink as she walks away with the lizard yokai in her arms.

Raph looks back at the once blazing forest, now mellowed out to a light flicker, and wonders what happened to the yokai that gave him a similarly kind wink and why he felt like he'd met the guy before…


	3. Morning Meeting

It's a day after the forest fire incident, and already news has spread about the heroic efforts of Captain Jupiter and his sidekicks. Captain Jupiter was in some tavern regaling folks with the story, and Red Fox had urged Raph to come with her to a healing house to check for any injuries. Raph insists that he is fine, but she just wants to be cautious and she always worries about him, so he relents. Red Fox accompanies him to check on some of the victims of the fire. Captain James was slightly wrong about everyone being accounted for - everyone had gotten out of the forest safely, but they were somehow left with one extra - the lizard guy that Raph had saved last minute.

"He's a gecko, actually," a healer informs them when they get to the healing house. "He didn't sustain any burns, but he breathed in too much smoke, and between that and the hit to his head, he'll have to be here for a week or so to recover before he is able to give any real answers to where he came from or if he has any family members."

Raph looks at the liz-- gecko with some concern. He seems to be younger than Raph, not a toddler or anything, but still a little kid and his heart goes out to him.

His gaze shifts to Red Fox as she speaks to the healer. "Thank you. In the meantime, I'll keep an eye out for any missing person posters or notifications. I truly hope we don't have another orphan on our hands." She makes a furtive glance in Raph's direction as she says this. Raph has always felt safe enough with Red Fox and the Captain, and they had given him a home for a majority of his life, so he never really felt like an orphan, but every once in a while Raph is reminded that he was once that strange turtle yokai the two heroes were given to take care of one day.

Red Fox turns her attention to Raph. "Did the healers find any injuries on you? You were in the fire for a while." Her round eyebrows raise in worry.

"There was nothing really, just a small burn on my tail that they healed up right away with a small spell, no biggie." Raph gives her a wide grin.

Suddenly the door to the building slams open and a voice calls out loudly "Is Red Fox here?!"

Everyone in the healing house turns to the door with different looks of surprise or annoyance.

The owner of the voice is a green yokai in Courier’s Guild garb with a bright orange scarf, a patched up mailbag, and a tattered brown traveler's cloak. His round features make him look quite young, but what really gives him away is the gap-toothed smile and bright yellow freckles. Raph recognizes him immediately - it's the turtle yokai from last night! Raph feels a mixture of surprise, and relief that the one that had helped him had made it out of the fire okay.

The boy looks around nervously at the annoyed looks as if he can feel their glares. But as soon as his eyes make contact with Raph's his nervous grin spreads into a genuine one. And when he sees Red Fox standing beside him, his body seems to vibrate with excitement. Much speedier than expected, the turtle yokai zooms over to Raph and Red Fox in an instant.

"I found you!" he cheers brightly, grasping the red panda yokai's hands. Red Fox happily takes his hands in hers without hesitation. Then the boy looks up at Raph in wonder and exclaims, "And it's you!!"

Raph doesn't really know what to say, so the words that tumble out of his mouth are, "Yeah, it's me."

Red Fox's mouth curls into a friendly smile and she puts her hand under the boy's chin and gives him a little scratch. The boy closes his eyes and trills happily at the touch. "If it isn't my favorite little messenger," she says. "Do you two know each other?" She looks between him and Raph.

"Well, uh, sorta, we only kinda met last-" Raph's explanation is cut off by the exuberant child.

"Yes, we know each other! He was there fighting that forest fire last night and saving a bunch of people! It was so awesome!" The kid looks up at Raph with such profound amazement, that Raph feels something stir in his heart that he can't place. Is this what it's like for the Captain when people praise him?

“Oh, were you one of the people that Raph helped last night?” Red Fox asks.

“Er, kinda the opposite,” Raph says. He turns to Red Fox and asks, "How do you know him?"

"He's come to me a few times for guidance through the mountains to deliver packages."

So that's why the kid seemed so familiar last night... Maybe he had seen him with Red Fox when she went on one of her mountain guiding treks.

"I didn't know you met Raphael before," Red Fox says.

"Ra-f-ael," the boy says his name as if trying to figure out how it felt on his tongue. Maybe he liked it because he was smiling again. "You were really cool last night!"

"Er, thanks... And uh thank you, too, for the help last night, uh..."

"Michelangelo," he says with a bow. "But my friends call me Mikey, or Mike, or Michael... Or whatever," he finishes with a laugh.

Mikelangelo then winces a bit and looks behind him.

A small "ahem" comes from that direction and they are met with an impatient glare of a healer. "If you all are going to be so loud can you please go outside and leave our patients in peace?”

"My apologies," Red Fox says as she ushers both of the turtle boys out of the healing house.

Once outside, she turns to Michelangelo and says, "So I'm assuming if you were looking for me, you need a guide through the mountains again?"

"Yessum!"

"Very good, you made it here just in time before we get any major snowfall. Will you be needing to leave today?"

"If that's okay," Mikey says.

"Of course! I just need to get some supplies and-"

"Can I come?" Raph blurts out before he can help himself.

Red Fox looks to him in surprise, "Are you sure? Aren't you afraid of missing out on any missions with the Captain? That's why you normally stay."

Raph nods eagerly, but then shrugs trying to play down his enthusiasm, "Yeah, I mean, I can take Buddy and he can help carry any packages that you have." He looks to the courier. "And I want to help Michelangelo out since he helped me out last night."

The boy smiles at Raph with a grin brighter than a sunbeam. "You wanna come?! That'd be great!"

Raph can't help but smile back. It's true that he wants to repay him for practically saving his life last night, but there was something else about this turtle yokai that he couldn't quite place. A sense of deja vu, a prickle in the back of his mind that he couldn't shake. And there was something warm, and friendly, and familiar about the kid. He's not sure why, and it's _because_ he's not sure why that he wants to find out more.

"And it's Mikey," Michelangelo says. "My friends call me Mikey."

Raph gives a small laugh and nods, "Yeah, Mikey." He surprises himself with how easily the next sentence comes out. "And my friends call me Raph."


	4. A Sense of Familiarity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A special thanks to [CharmyWizard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharmyWizard/pseuds/CharmyWizard) for helping me out with some of the exchanges in this chapter and for the "friend-cheese" idea. Also big thanks to [Lovely_Dovely](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lovely_Dovely/pseuds/Lovely_Dovely) who did some brilliant concept artwork for Infinity the phoenix and Buddy the aurax, which you can see [over on tumblr](https://dovelydraws.tumblr.com/post/630442565778489344/some-more-fantasy-au-stuff-i-made-a-while-back-my).

Raph thought that going on a trek with Mikey would help him understand the kid better, but it only proved to make him even more confused. A few of Raph's initial assumptions about Mikey were correct. He was indeed a turtle yokai - a box turtle to be exact. And he was only about 2 years younger than Raph making him 15. And the reason why he was so far north, despite apparently coming from the Soothing South, was that, like his attire suggested, he was a courier. But between those things, Raph was left with more questions than answers.

For one thing, Mikey was really good with animals. When Raph first introduced him to his aurax, Buddy, Mikey was enamored with what most people took as a rather large and intimidating cattle beast. But Mikey immediately started complimenting his fluffy curls and powerful stature, begging Raph to let him braid his fur. Buddy himself, who, while usually quite friendly, often had trouble distinguishing between roughhousing playtime and calm pets, and yet seemed to understand that Mikey was someone that he should be gentle with. The curly-horned creature even relented at Mikey's touch and flipped over onto his back to beg for belly rubs, which Raph had never seen him trust anyone else to do besides himself and Red Fox. Even the Captain had trouble getting on Buddy's good side sometimes.

Not only that, but it turns out Buddy wasn't even needed all that much to carry the packages, since Mikey owned a phoenix, _an actual phoenix_ , to help him with his cargo and carry Mikey around. The large beautiful bird, he called Infinity, with iridescent feathers of reds, purples, and golds, snuggled up with Mikey often when they slept during their journey. He'd never heard of a phoenix being so close to another being before - yokai or human.

The other thing that really confused Raph was Mikey's personality. The kid was just so trusting.

_"You don't even have a sleeping bag?" Red Fox asked when they were packing their supplies._

_"Well, I DID have one, but there were these guys in purple who asked if they could borrow it a while back. They took some of my other supplies as well and said they'd meet me after I ran an errand. I came back at the meeting time, but they took so long and I had to deliver another package, so I had to leave. I felt bad for missing them so I left a note with a drawing. I hope they're okay," Mikey explains in his usual long-winded way._

_Raph starts to say, "Are you sure they didn't just steal--" before Red Fox cuts him off. "I'm sure it's fine, sweetie, I think I have a spare that you can use."_

_"Really?! Thanks! Oooh! It's orange! My favorite color!" Mikey says, happily taking the sleeping bag and hugging it as though it was the best gift he had ever received._

Raph was just perplexed how he hadn't been robbed completely or had something worse happen to him. Then again, another mystery about Mikey was that it was really difficult to say no to the guy. He had somehow perfected the puppy dog look and turned any conversation, even the more negative ones, into something positive and light.

_"You mean you somehow convinced the owner of a castle to let you use it whenever you wanted?" Raph says incredulously._

_"Yeah! He liked my cooking so much he said I could use his summer home in the Soothing South, too!"_

_"Man, Mikey, do you have some sort of niceness power?"_

_"No, that'd probably be Todd - he's the nicest guy I know! Taught me practically everything! But that's why I wanted to travel! I wanted to learn more!"_

_Raph pushes past the fact that he has no idea who Todd is and asks the more pertinent question. "Aren't you afraid of, I don't know, thieves or people tricking or hurting you along the way?"_

_"No, not at all. Besides, if there was danger, then Infinity's instincts would let me know!" He gives the large bird he's riding a friendly pat, to which the bird replies with a cheerful squawk._

_Raph highly doubts that Infinity, who seems to be as cheery and naive as Mikey, would be able to sense anything like that._

Then there was the question of why Mikey seemed so familiar. After thinking back on it, Red Fox did often talk about the people she helped guide through the mountains, but he'd rarely met any of them. And he had a hard time conjuring up a memory of any time that he'd met Mikey with Red Fox in the picture. He almost felt closer than that. Like a friend he hadn't seen in a while. Mikey himself certainly kept acting like they were long time friends; constantly hugging him, invading his personal space, grabbing at his belongings to ask about them. Even Raph was beginning to think they had known each other for a long time. Then again, Mikey seemed to act like that with everyone.

_“What do you think of this?” Mikey asks Raph after they had set up camp, suddenly shoving a spoonful of the meal he is cooking into the snapper’s mouth._

_“Mmnghrff--” Raph says intellectually around the wooden spoon and hefty portion of meats and hearty root vegetables that it held. He chews slowly, at first trying to think of some helpful feedback, but then just to savor the flavor. He closes his eyes and hums in pleasure, as the savory sauces roll over his tongue. Raph could see why that one guy let Mikey have free use of his castle and summer home._

_“Mikey,” he says with absolute seriousness. “This is the most delicious thing I have ever tasted.”_

_“Really?!” Mikey says sheepishly. “You don’t think I went a little heavy on the cumin?”_

_“No, it’s perfect!” Raph says, even though he’s not exactly sure what spice cumin is._

_“Ah great! Well, then dig in!” Mikey says handing some plates over to Red Fox and Raph. As they take the plates, Red Fox chimes in, “One of the reasons why it’s such a joy to guide you on these treks is that I get to taste your cooking again, Mikey!”_

_“Aww shucks, Red! Thanks!” Mikey grins widely._

Raph thinks to himself that maybe it was Mikey’s niceness that kept him alive. His naivety was worrisome, but he was also really good at lots of things like that - caring for animals, cooking, and after all, he did help save him from the fire, which brought Raph to a question that he finally voiced out loud on the third day of their trek.

"So how did you do that thing with the fire? You were in the middle of it all and then you like, ate it?"

"Oh, I'm a fire mage!" Mikey says while riding atop Infinity as they make their way through the mountain paths. As a way of demonstration, Mikey cups his hands and produces a tiny ball of fire within them. He holds the fire gently, almost as if he's carrying a tiny animal in the palm of his hands. “Fire doesn't hurt me and I can use it to help with cooking and stuff. It's also why I can keep pretty warm in the winter.” He lifts up his palms and lets the small flame dance in the air. Infinity explores the flame with her beak and nips at it, but Mikey maneuvers the fire just out of her reach. He twirls the small fire around her and she tries to catch it in her beak. He giggles and she squawks happily as they play their little game.

Raph smiles at the display. "Thanks again by the way, for helping out back there."

"No problem! I mean, you had a lot of it handled by yourself. You saved a bunch of people! I'm surprised that you didn't make it into any of the Aetherwave announcements or the news clippings. Just some guy named, er..., Jupiter Jim, was it?"

"Uh, it's Captain James Jupiter, actually." Raph fails to hide his appalled tone. "And of course he was talked about! He saved everyone! He's a famous hero!" Seriously for all his travels, how did Mikey know so little about James Jupiter?!

"Did he, though? I mostly just saw you and Red Fox while I was trying to stop the fire. I saw another guy in some sort of hero suit, but he was mostly staying outside of the forest."

"He was leading! Everyone would've been a mess without his guidance!" Raph tries to bury the annoyance bubbling up in his chest with his adoration of the Captain. "His strong, guiding hand of justice makes us all feel safe!" Raph tries to gain validation from repeating the mantra often used by the Captain himself, but he felt more upset and defiant - as if he was trying to defend the Captain. The Captain shouldn't need defending. Obviously he was great! So why did Raph's stomach twist in such a way?

For once Mikey has something less than a smile on his face. Instead his eyes wander around Raph's entire frame as if seeing something new on him he didn't like.

"I just..." Mikey hesitates. "I just think you should get the credit you deserve. You pulled like three families out of that fire, and at one point you were carrying almost ten people." His face shifts back into a smile. "That's pretty heroic if you ask me!"

Raph eyes him warily. Something about his statements don't really connect at first in Raph's mind. The Captain is the one who is the hero. He's just a student at best. But why did happiness flutter in his untwisting stomach at being called such?

"OH MI GOSH I JUST REMEMBERED!"

The sudden shout makes Raph jump, and a small yelp would've escaped his mouth if Mikey weren't immediately in front of him squishing either side of Raph's face and beaming at him excitedly.

"’Remembered...?’" Raph tries to ask between squished cheeks.

"What I wanted to tell you!" MIkey threw his hands in the air, releasing Raph from his hold. "I wanted to tell you that I like your cape!"

"My cape?"

"Yeah it's like super heroic looking!"

Raph looks at his cape as if trying to see what Mikey sees.

"Oh, and I wanted to know if Buddy knew any female aurax's that could make friend-cheese for me,” Mikey continues.

"Oh, um, thank you?" Raph lets out a small chuckle. "Also, I could, uh, ask around when we get back to town about… ‘friend-cheese?’" Raph thinks a moment before continuing. "Why was that so important though?"

"Because friend-cheese is Todd's favorite, because of the method of farmers asking aurax’s nicely before they milk them."

"N-no, not that." Raph can't help but smile; man this kid's attitude is infectious. "Why did ’ya have to ask about my cape?"

"Because I thought it looked really cool with the flames and the moon and your powers and I wasn't sure then that I'd get a chance to tell you again." Mikey beams brightly enough to show off his gap tooth and rear molars.

"Well, thank you." He's still not used to so many compliments.

He looks to Red Fox with a confused expression, but she just smiles back and says, "He's right, it does make you look rather heroic."

Before Raph can sort his thoughts out on the image of himself as a true hero, he suddenly feels something land on his neck hard enough that he jumps and nearly goes on attack mode, until he sees Mikey's legs trail down the side of his neck. Raph looks up to see Mikey craning his head downward looking at him with round, inquisitive eyes. "Can I ride on your shoulders for awhile? I wanna give Infinity a break," Mikey asks.

Raph gives Mikey a soft smirk and a quiet chuckle. This guy really does have some sort of niceness power. "Yeah, sure," the snapper says.

Mikey punches both fists in the air and his legs stick out as he shouts out a triumphant "Yes!"

"Hey Mikey, we've still got another hour or so before we make our first stop," Red Fox says. "Why don't you tell us one of your stories from your travels?" She then says as an aside to Raph, "He's a very good storyteller by the way; he was able to keep me entertained on our previous trips through the mountains, as well as many other folks along the way."

Mikey looks at her with joyful, watery eyes. "Red Fox, you really think I'm a good storyteller?!"

Red Fox nods sweetly.

Mikey bows as best he can while perched on Raph's shoulders. "Aw shucks! Why thank you, my friend."

The rest of their trek for the day is filled with Mikey's melodious voice recounting several strange tales which continue to add questions to Raph's mind.

\---

Mikey's storytelling stopped only long enough to deliver his first package. It was to a local store in a tiny grouping of houses nestled in the mountains. Afterwards, they went to the barely-a-village's tavern to get something to eat before resting for the night. Once in the tavern, and in between mouthfuls of food, Mikey continues to tell his stories to the patrons, which seem to grow in number as the evening wears on. Raph guesses that they don't get many travellers here this high up in the mountains, because they're all enraptured by Mikey's tales. Raph is just finishing up his dinner and he is feeling rather content, allowing Mikey's voice and the patrons' reactions to drift into background noise when he perks up at the mention of his name.

"What?" Raph snaps to attention looking to where he was called.

"Mikey is right, Big Red was indeed quite heroic." Red Fox gives him a pleased look.

Before Raph can figure out if Red Fox is playing some sort of joke on him, Mikey glides over to Raph's side and puts an arm around his shoulder. "And that's when I saw him under the blood moon, with glowing eyes and glowing arms, picking up an entire family of squirrel yokai!" Mikey says sweeping his arms wide. The patrons’ eyes are all on Raph now, and the attention has his heart pounding, though out of sudden stage fright or pride he's not sure. Either way, Raph is sure his face is burning more than it ever had in that forest fire. But luckily the patrons quickly turn back to Mikey as he continues his story. It's weird for Raph to hear Mikey talk about something he did in a similar way that the Aetherwaves trumpet the stories of the great Captain Jupiter. Raph is not worthy of such a grand retelling, but Mikey is so excited about it that Raph just puts on an easy smile and focuses on his theatrics, drinking a bit from his cup to hide his face.

When the story ends the people in the tavern clap in amazement, some even patting Raph on the arm, offering congratulations, but he respectfully waves them off. He's caught off guard a little bit by the look Red Fox gives him. There's a twinkle in her eye and an earnest smile on her face, wrinkling the scar above her nose. Raph buries his face in his cup again before getting up to start pitching a tent for them to sleep in when the tavern keeper insists that they stay the night free of charge as payment for Mikey’s wonderful stories.

Raph feels bad for the tiny hint of suspicion that he has at that moment that maybe Mikey _is_ actually using some sort of niceness spell or something, but he quickly changes his mind when he looks over at Mikey. He's not unhappy, per se - the kid is still smiling - but there's something in his face that falls almost imperceptibly at the suggestion that they stay at the tavern. Noticing Raph's observation of him, his smile brightens and he thanks the tavern keeper for his generosity.


	5. Interlude - Lake

There is the shell of a box turtle in the middle of a lake so still it mirrors the area around it. The area itself consists of shifting dull colors and lights that barely have any resemblance to an actual landscape. Raph walks on the lake. His reflection follows, but does not mimic his usual calm gait, and instead slinks along, hunched over and ambling like some sort of beast. It lacks his clothes, and its shell and plastron are littered with scratches and scars; claws and teeth much more visible on the figure.

A crying sound comes from the shell on the lake. The bright yellow markings decorating the shell flicker with light, wobbling fiercely in sync with the sad sounds coming from within. Box turtles can fit their limbs and head entirely into their shell, Raph recalls. Water starts pouring from the holes in the shell like mini waterfalls, disturbing the surrounding water. The beast that follows Raph's reflected footsteps blurs out of existence as the ripples reach him.

Raph quickens his pace to the shell as the lakewater begins to rise, quickly submerging the shell. Raph hurries up, but his attempts to run are impeded by the now chest deep water. As he comes to the spot where the shell was once sitting, the water now comes over his head, and Raph has to take a deep breath to dive down to reach the shell. He swims for a good while, following the flickering light from the shell's markings and the quaking sobs that he can somehow still hear. The box shell is now in reach and he grabs it, pulling it into a protective hug.

As he embraces the shell, the deep lake is suddenly nonexistent and he's simply sitting in a calm puddle of water, holding the shell close to him. In the reflection of the puddle, Mikey is no longer curled up within his shell. Mikey's head rests on Raph's plastron and his arms are wrapped around his wide form. Tears are streaming down the box turtle's face. A single drop reaches the puddle. Ripples spread across the water, then upwards as if it is the forms sitting on the puddle that are the reflection. Soon the whole world is blurred from existence.

Raph wakes up with a yawn wondering why his eyes are watery.


	6. Tales and Titles

Woken up from his slumber, Raph hears a creak in the room that they've been given to rest in. It's an old tavern in the mountains, so creaks are natural, but his hunter senses allow him to differentiate the wind-rocking kind of creaks from the ones caused by someone’s movements - they’ve got a certain vibration to it. He lifts open a bleary eyelid just in time to see a green head duck out of the room and into the hallway. Raph waits a few beats before following. 

A peek around the corner of the tavern building and he can see Mikey finishing up putting a saddle on Infinity and riding away with her. Raph quickly saddles up Buddy, apologizing for waking him up, and then chases after Mikey. He doesn't have to go too far though as he quickly spots Mikey perched on a rock overlooking the snow covered peaks of the mountains beyond. Infinity is plucking at a patch of somewhat still green grass below between patches of dusted on snow, and Raph leaves Buddy there with her. Infinity makes a friendly chirrup at the aurax and playfully nips at his shaggy hair. Buddy seems to not mind this and takes a few bites of grass himself. If Mikey has heard them at this point he doesn't acknowledge it. Raph climbs up to the rock Mikey is sitting on.

"Do you ever feel lonely, even with other people around?" Mikey asks. The tone is so unlike him. It's so lacking in any of the energy he has displayed since Raph met him. It is somber. Tired. And it fills Raph with sadness and worry for his friend. Raph knows better than to comment on that though. 

He sits down next to Mikey and responds cautiously. "I'm... not sure I understand the question, Mike... Can you be alone while around other people?"

"Not alone. Lonely. Like, even if there are people around you, do you ever feel not with them?" He looks at Raph this time. His normally vibrant red-orange eyes look dull, and his brows are upturned in a sad but questioning position.

Raph looks down and tries to seriously consider the question. He doesn't want to potentially make Mikey feel worse by immediately dismissing it. Raph thinks about some of the missions he's been on with Captain Jupiter. Yeah, he's working for the Captain, but sometimes it doesn't feel like he's working with him. So Raph hums and nods. "Yeah, I think I get what you mean."

Mikey looks back up to the sky and explains, "I decided to be a messenger because I wanted to meet other people and make friends, but I'm not sure if it's working all the time. I try to make people happy, but sometimes it's... tiring keeping up with all that. People have so many more emotions than I thought... And sometimes... sometimes I don't know if it's my own feelings or theirs that I'm feeling. It's hard to find myself in all that... noise."

Raph blinks as he realizes something. "You're an empath!"

Mikey chuckles weakly and scratches at his chin while looking away. "Ah, did I not mention that? Sometimes I forget that people don't know."

Raph blinks again. "Is that why you came out here alone? To get away from all that?" he asks. Then he feels a sudden twinge of guilt. "Oh should- should I not be here? I can go, I'll go uh..." He stammers as he tries to get up but Mikey grabs hold of his cape. He holds on with both hands and squeezes it close, like a child with a safety blanket.

"No, no, you can stay. I mean I do usually like camping at night and not staying in towns cuz I learned that that's normally the best way to, er, clear my head? My heart? Uh, you get it." Raph looks away, then back at Mikey, unsure. "Really, Raph, it's okay. Please stay." He pulls Raph's cape tighter ever so slightly.

"O-okay..." Raph sits back down. He feels like he should move the conversation beyond the awkwardness. "So uh, you wanted to meet new people? Are there not a lot of folks where you're from?"

Mikey laughs a bit more genuinely this time. "Practically no one! There's mostly just animals in the Enchanted Forest! Me ‘n Todd would help out any animals that needed to be cared for and we made sure everyone was safe and happy."

That answered a few of Raph's questions. "Is Todd like your dad or something?"

Mikey shakes his head and huffs out a less genuine laugh. "No, he's a friend." His face lights up a bit then. "But he did raise me. He really is the nicest guy!"

"Huh, that's kinda weird that he raised you and is so nice, but he's not your dad."

"Well, is James Jupiter your dad?"

Raph freezes for a moment, before letting out a laugh that sounds more genuine than it is. Raph is vaguely aware now that Mikey can probably sense that. "I guess not. Even though he kind of raised me, too. Him and Red Fox." Raph's warm smile matches his emotions this time at the thought of the red panda yokai who's always been there as a kind of a big sis to him. Mikey smiles with him.

"Red Fox is really cool," Mikey says.

"Yeah, she is."

Mikey then looks at Raph curiously as if he wants to say something. Raph decides to be patient and wait for him to do so.

"Do you... mind it when I talk about you or him?" He squints his eyes as if trying to figure out the answer by just asking the question.

"I..." Raph isn't sure how to respond. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when I talked about you and Captain Jupiter before, it was... Weird... I guess? Like it was like you were happy and not happy at the same time. Should I stop? Like with the story in the tavern?" Mikey starts to fidget with his hands. "Cuz I thought you were really cool and I really did want to talk about you. But you seemed to feel sad about the situation, so I thought maybe telling the story and getting people to recognize you more would make you happier and--"

"Stop." Raph holds up a hand in front of Mikey's face, causing Mikey to clamp his mouth shut in a somewhat puckered position. Wide and confused eyes look up at the snapper.

Raph sighs. "First of all, it ain't your job to make me, or anyone happier, especially if it's making you feel like... This whole situation." He gestures at Mikey and the area around them. Mikey blinks like he's processing the information. Raph waits until Mikey looks back up at him again before he continues. "Second of all... Yeah, I think you're right... My feelings about the missions I'm on are... Complicated..." This time Mikey raises his brow in curiosity. "...But maybe that's my own problem to deal with... And I... actually think you telling the story is helping," he finishes, feeling like he's admitting a big secret, but he doesn't know what. Raph takes a breath. "And if you want, BUT ONLY if you want," he makes sure to grab Mikey's attention and emphasize that last point, "you can keep telling it."

After a second, a huge smile covers Mikey's face and he flaps his hands excitedly. "Really! Cuz it's a fun story! And Red Fox is there, too, and I helped and it'd be a real shame to let that kind of storytelling potential go to waste."

Raph can't help but smile. It's good to see Mikey brighten up again. Then Raph remembers something. "Oh by the way, I was thinking, you could use a hero name for that story…”

A creative spark appears in Mikey's eyes. "Oh? Well I'd be happy to workshop a name with you."

At this, Raph is the one to vibrate eagerly. "Actually, I've got a list of names I've been working on. I've been going with 'Red Angel of Preventing Harm' for a few missions now, but that doesn't seem to be sticking so..."

As the night wears on, Raph excitedly exchanges ideas and stories with his new friend before eventually ushering them both back to the tavern to get some rest before they have to continue their trek the next day.

\---

"So we have 'Red Angel of Preventing Harm', 'Red Agent of Purity and Heroics', 'Reptile Against People-Hatred', 'Rad Amphibian Protecting Humanity,'" Mikey rattles off the list of names that he and Raph had come up with last night as the group of yokai continue their trek through the mountains. It's getting chillier as they go, and having a distraction is helpful for combating the cold.

"Turtles are reptiles, dear, not amphibians," Red Fox corrects them.

"I told you that you weren't an amphibian!" Mikey shoots at Raph with a know-it-all grin.

"Aw man, I thought that was a cool one!" Raph pouts.

"Maybe next time you'll listen to the animal expert!" Mikey brags, putting on a mock wounded expression and raising his bottom lip in an airy pout.

Raph chuckles and plays along. "How could I have not listened to you, oh wise turtle-who-is-not-an-amphibian?!”

The two break out into laughter, lightheartedly shoving each other with no real force; Raph in particular taking extra care to hold back in his pushes.

"But really boys, I told you before, that a hero name should be shorter, catchier, more memorable."

"I still think your name should have something to do with your cool eyes when you use your power!"

"You saw his moon eyes!" Red Fox looks at Mikey in surprise, then to Raph in concern. "You must have been really taxing your powers in that fire! You should have told me!"

Raph absently chews on his mask tails and says, "It wasn't so bad, and only at the end." He changes the topic back to Mikey's. "Mikey thought that 'Blood Moon Hunter' would be a cool name.”

“Isn’t ‘Blood Moon Hunter’ too long as well?” Red Fox says.

“Yeah, and I guess, I thought it was kinda too dark,” Raph says.

"Hmm, maybe Moon Hunter? Or Red Moon?" Mikey offers.

"Red _is_ my favorite color," Raph says nodding in approval.

"Ooh! Or what about 'Nightwatcher?' Sounds like a good vigilante name to me!" Mikey says excitedly.

"It still doesn't sound like me though..." Raph says.

"What if you shorten the name you've been using? Instead of the full thing, why not "Red Angel'" Red Fox suggests.

Raph smiles at her. "That could work!"

Red Fox then moves over to Raph, lifting herself up by her tail so she's equal height with Raph and pinches his cheek with a teasing expression. "After all, you are quite the angel, my little Raphie!"

Raph brushes her hand away and groans, but with a smile playing on his lips. "Stop that!!!" Then he takes a heroic pose with his hands on his hips and states, "Besides, I AM a hero and I'll look after people like a guardian angel!"

Mikey claps happily and Red Fox joins him.

Raph's confident stance falters a bit as he scratches the back of his head and blushes. "Heh heh, thanks guys. This was fun."

Mikey then thinks for a second and turns to Raph. "Hey, can I still use the name "Blood Moon Hunter" for something else? There's someone else I know a lot of stories about, but he doesn't really have a name and I think that one still fits."

Raph shrugs and says, "Yeah, why not?"

\---

For the next few stops that the trio made, Mikey would tell many different stories from his travels. The dude had loads! Both ones that he experienced and ones that others experienced. Raph thinks some of the stories Mikey heard secondhand were lies or at the very least included heavy exaggerations, but he never seemed to notice or act like it, and Raph didn't want to ruin his, or his listeners' fun. But Mikey always managed to bring up that one mission that Raph did and went with 'Red Angel' like discussed.

Then there were some stories that Mikey talked about that really seemed like tall tales. These were the ones that Mikey used the name "Blood Moon Hunter" for. They were always about a protective heroic figure coming to save him and other people when they needed him most. But it involved some really wild magic, like transfigurations and dimension warping; stuff that seemed to bend reality. Dreamlike. They felt strangely familiar to Raph, however. Maybe they were some folktales or stories he'd heard as a kid. They often played out like that, involving lots of symbolism and stuff. Despite how odd they were, Raph liked these ones the best. They felt familiar, like a bedtime story. And he could envision them really easily, almost as if he had been there. Raph might not have chosen the name for himself, but the Blood Moon Hunter stories that Mikey told were some of his best.

"Dude, you should write some of these stories in books or something! I'm sure folks would love to read them!" Raph says as they are nearing their final stop. The trek was a loop around the mountains, and they were setting up tents a few hours away from the last town. They could drop off their deliveries in the morning and get back to Bedu the day after.

Mikey blushes a bit and looks away shyly. "Aw I don't know. One of the great things about telling stories is specifically who I'm telling them to." Mikey looks up at Raph pointedly and there's almost an air of wistfulness that he catches in the smaller turtle's eyes.

Raph brushes off the feeling that Mikey seems to be trying to tell him something and replies, “Well, if you made books, then you could tell your stories to the entire Kingdom!”

Mikey hums a bit in response, but Raph isn’t sure if it’s a hum of affirmation or not. Mikey is a lot quieter for the rest of the evening. He perks up while cooking though, and rattles off a few more tales for his two companions, but goes to bed earlier than usual.


	7. Interlude - Wood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to give a shout-out to [thehandleisjammed](https://thehandleisjammed.tumblr.com/) for drawing tons of lovely artwork for the Fantasy AU. They also included [an adorable piece of artwork](https://thehandleisjammed.tumblr.com/post/632102908937338880/theyre-all-excited-to-meet-the-littlest-one-all?is_highlighted_post=1) from chapter 4 of this fic along with some other artwork of the fantasy boys. Go give this artist some love!

Raph is walking through the woods. A hunched, spikey-shelled figure can be seen shadowing his movements between the gaps in the trees. Raph pays no mind to that though. His focus is on the clearing in the woods where the small huddled form of Mikey can be seen. He's curled up in the clearing and shivering. The trees seem to bend ever so slightly around him, and as Mikey curls up on himself more, so do the trees.

Raph moves toward Mikey. He can hear him whimpering. He sounds so sad. Raph wants to do everything in his power to help him feel better. But the closer he tries to get, the farther Mikey seems, and the tighter the trees seem to curl around the small box turtle. Raph activates his powers; a red glow surrounding his legs, enhancing them and allowing him to run with powerful strides towards Mikey. The branches on the trees start tangling around the boy as if a bramble patch is trying to swallow him up. Raph increases his movement; magical red glow now reaching past his arms and breaking through the wooden limbs. He rips apart the tightening circle surrounding Mikey and reaches out a hand to touch the back of his shell.

A sudden rush of emotions and voices crash against Raph as if a powerful gust of wind is trying to push him away from the younger turtle. He can feel so many thoughts and emotions; happiness, sadness, fear, anger, regret, coupled with cries of rage, sobs, laughter, screams, all of it overwhelming his mind and body. But within the maelstrom of emotions he finds Mikey, and the clear sense of loneliness coming from the boy nearly makes Raphael cry himself. He closes his eyes over the tears pooling there. When his eyes snap open again, they have gone black with glowing lunar irises, tears turned to specks of red light floating at the corners. He lets loose a powerful wave of his magic, pushing away the voices and emotions that swirl around them and shielding Mikey from them. In the sudden absence of the intruding thoughts, silence reigns. Mikey's huddled form rests against Raph's chest shaking like a leaf. Raph holds him tightly. It's when Mikey looks up at him, that there is a flashing light and Raph wakes up to a winter chill blowing from the mountain peaks.


	8. Warmth against the Chill

They are at the last stop on their trek. Good thing, too because the snow was now thick on the ground and piling heavy on the mountaintops surrounding them. The passageways between the mountains would soon become impassable. A majority of Mikey's packages for this town included supplies to help them through the winter. As they are handing off the last set of deliveries to an elderly couple who owned the general store - a stone building at the center of town - Red Fox's ear twitches and she looks out to the middle distance as if listening for something. Her nose quivers, causing the pink scar above it to crinkle, as she explores the scents in the air.

Raph knows this stance as a signal that something was coming.

"What is it?” Raph asks Red Fox seriously.

Red Fox opens up her mouth to say something, but before she could, a rumbling crack from above echoes through the village. They look up at the snow-capped peak that the town is primarily leaning on to see a wave of snow tumbling down at them.

An avalanche.

Red Fox leaps into action, magically extending her tail to gently wrap around the elderly couple and their packages, and pulls them under the awning of the roof of the sturdy general store. The town must be used to these sorts of things because an emergency beacon starts flashing and many people immediately start scrambling to safety. There are some stragglers though.

"Raph!" Red Fox yells and signals to the remaining villagers who are still out in the open. Raph understands and he runs out to bring the rest to safety. He scoops up a young couple of humans in his strong arms and puts up his red projections around them. The snow is over them now like a great wave and Raph isn't sure if his giant form will hold. However, he doesn't have to worry, when an almost equally large wave of fire clashes with the snow, melting it instantly.

He looks over to see Mikey with his arms extended sending powerful gusts of flames melting the snow as it falls from the mountain. He strains as still more pours down. He gives a signal to Infinity, who has a smaller yokai passenger onboard that Mikey must've rescued, and the phoenix speeds towards Raph. Mikey nods to Raph and both the large snapper and Infinity rush their passengers to safety. Once he knows that they are secure in the stone building with the avalanche passing over the sloped roof, Raph turns around again to try to help anyone else in need of rescue.

A particularly large chunk of snow and ice is about to crash on a trio of young, brown-furred yokai women. Raph puts more energy into his projected fist and punches the chunk of ice away. Raph starts to herd them over to the store.

"Wooooaaaah!" One of the yokai says, looking up at Raph in amazement, "Aren't you that Blood Moon Hunter...?" She looks like maybe a prairie dog?

“Er, well actually..." Raph is about to say, but is interrupted by a second woman, stouter than the first.

"I thought the tales were about a Red Angel," she says.

The third woman, largest of the three, offers a series of grunts in response, but the others seem to understand what she is saying.

"You're right, Honey Badger," says the second one, the stories did say he was some sort of bounty hunter.

Raph allows himself a small smile in the chaos. It seems like Mikey's stories are spreading, even if not exactly in the way as intended. Wait. Where was Mikey? He scans the surroundings barely paying attention to the women as they continue to chatter excitedly.

"Yeah and look at his eyes! They're like a blood moon!"

"We should totally make a song about him!"

As the third woman grunts in affirmation, Raph sees what he is looking for.

A section of snow in the distance seems to explode outward. Protective flames wrap around Mikey as a young child huddles beneath him. Mikey is holding back the wave of snow and ice with his fire. He gestures to the child to move. The two of them run together, Mikey providing a shield between them, melting any snow that comes in contact with them. He looks like he is straining hard against the mountain’s onslaught causing worry to twist around Raph’s gut. Maybe he's using his powers too much. Overextending one's magic can be really dangerous. One of Mikey's hands reaches up to cup his head as if trying to block out sound.

That's when Raph thinks of another problem Mikey must be having. So many people in the middle of a natural disaster - Mikey would be feeling all of the emotions that come from that sort of situation from all of them. And at the same time that he is taxing his fire magic! That's not a good combination.

Mikey and the child come closer, but the sigh of relief that Raph is about to let out gets caught in his throat as Mikey trips. In his kneeling position he extends a hand outward so the flames continue to create a pathway allowing the child to get to safety, but a particularly large spurt of snow crackles its way toward the young turtle. With it comes a large pine tree that must've got caught in the flow headed straight for him.

Raph moves before he can think. The magical red projection he creates grows larger and larger, crashing through the falling snow, completely unimpeded by the force. In a few giant leaps he is upon Mikey and throws his form over the orange clad turtle. He brings Mikey into the projection’s form so he is able to wrap his real arms around Mikey. He knows the worst of the snow along with the tree is still coming so he pushes all the power he can muster into one of the back spikes on his projection. The spike extends like a javelin and meets the tree mid-fall. A crack spreads lengthwise through the trunk of the tree and splits it in half. The two halves along with the snow spread around the large spike as if it were cutting through the avalanche itself.

As suddenly as the avalanche had come, it stops. The mountain stops rumbling so dangerously, and the snow ends it's onslaught of the village. Beneath Raph, curled in his arms is Mikey, shaking like a leaf with tears pouring down his cheeks. His hands are gripping the sides of his head as if to try to block out the world.

"Hey... Mikey..," Raph begins in a soft voice. "The avalanche is over now, you're safe!"

Mikey shakes his head violently, and continues to tremble and cry, letting out stuttering whimpers.

Raph is hit with a sudden sense of deja vu. Didn't he experience this before? Some flashes of a memory come back to him. Woods curling around Mikey. The voices of so many people. So many emotions rushing over him, more powerful than any avalanche. And Raph's shield.

Raph understands what he can do. He takes a deep breath, lowering his projected form, but putting up a protective shield spell around them. He tries to mimic the kind of spell that he was somehow able to create in his dream. The shield doesn't extend very far, but very little sound from the outside comes in.

Mikey's eyes snap open. Tears continue to pour from them, but he slowly lowers his hands from his head and shakily looks up at Raph.

"Hey buddy," Raph says with a soft smile. "It's all right. I'm here. You're safe."

Mikey blinks. Once. Twice. Something like a smile twitches at the corner of his mouth. "R-raph?"

"Yeah, it's me. No one else." Based on Mikey's reactions he thinks his shield is doing its job of blocking out all of the distressing emotions from outside.

Mikey's smile wobbles as he looks up gratefully at Raph. Large tears pool yet again in his eyes and he throws himself at Raph, wrapping his arms around him in the best tiny hug he can muster. He cries with a mixture of wet sobs and choked laughs. Raph returns the hug, enveloping Mikey's form in his large arms. They sit like that for a while. Raph isn't sure how long. Mikey slowly settles down, and the soft, even breathing Raph hears from the yokai cradled in his arms signals that he has fallen asleep.

He slowly lowers his shield, but Mikey's sleep doesn't seem disturbed by the lack of it. Most everyone seems to have gone home or helped with repairs in the village by now. Red Fox is there helping them.

Raph is able to quietly explain to the red panda that they should leave soon and gestures to Mikey. Without much explanation, Red Fox seems to understand. She's good like that.

They spend the last night of their trek away from any villages, and under the stars; Mikey still sleeping peacefully in Raph's protective arms.


	9. Not all Black and White

The trio gets up early the next morning, reaching the outskirts of Bedu in relative silence. The whole time Mikey keeps looking over to Raph as if he wants to say something. Raph knows by now to just wait until Mikey speaks – if the young boxshell has something to say, he's bound to say it eventually. Finally he opens his mouth. “How... did you do that...?” he asks.

Well, that wasn't exactly what Raph was expecting. “Do what?” he asks genuinely confused.

“I mean, how did you...” Mikey twirls his hands around each other as if trying to find the right words, “...make everything stop..? The noise? The... the feelings?” He looks to Raph in almost desperate wonder.

“Oh, that...” Raph runs his mask tails through his fingers as he thinks. “I'm... actually not so sure... I've always been good with protective wards and shields n' stuff. I guess... I just figured out a new way to use them...?” He ends his sentence in a rising questioning tone.

Mikey looks at him almost expectantly. As if there's more to what Raph has to say.

There _is_ more. “And, uh,” Raph begins. “You're gonna probably think this is a little weird, but, um, I think I did it in a dream once...?”

Mikey's eyes widen, before softening. A warm smile spreads across his face. “That doesn't sound weird to me at all.”

“Oh really?” Raph stops tugging at his mask tails. “Um... I could maybe equip some of your gear, or even sheets of magic activation paper with some protective wards like that. Maybe they could help you out in your travels, even if I'm not around.”

Mikey's smile widens further and he bounces in his saddle. “Really!? You could do that?!”

“Of course! I'd have to grab some of the extra paper and ink from my room when we get back, but I could definitely do that for ya!”

“Well, it's good timing then, because we're just about there!” Red Fox chimes in.

The town of Bedu looked pretty much the same as when they had left. After all, it had barely been a couple weeks. The main difference now was that a thin layer of frost was covering the ground, signalling that winter was close at hand, even below the tall mountain peaks.

“I have to go sign in with the Mountain Guide Guild to notify them that I've returned, and I need Mikey to come with me,” Red Fox says. “Raph, could you drop our gear off at the base?”

“Sure! I'll take Infinity and Buddy to the stables, too,” Raph says.

“Alrighty then!” Mikey bounces off of Infinity's back and hands her reins over to Raph, then bounces over to Red Fox.

“When you're done, come meet us by the healing house. I want to check if our gecko friend has recovered. After that we can all get some brunch – my treat!”

“Red Fox, you are the best!” Mikey cheers.

Raph smiles as he watches the two of them head farther into town. It's good to see Mikey's usual energy returned. But then he frowns a bit, realizing that he'd probably have to say goodbye to the guy soon with their trek now over. His mind is stuck in that sad thought as he heads back to Captain Jupiter's base, sets up Buddy and Infinity in the stables with some food and treats, and unpacks their gear. He mulls over all the things he's learned about Mikey and how close the two of them had grown in such a short time. He's gonna miss him a whole lot. 

Raph’s thoughts are interrupted by a booming voice.

"Great gorgons, my boy, where have you been all this time!?"

Raph's head snaps up to see Captain Jupiter in the door frame with his hands on his hips. Raph can't tell if it's his normal heroic pose or if he's angry for some reason. But either way Raph is cautious in his response. "I, uh, was on a mountain guiding mission with Red Fox."

"Well I needed you here! There's been a great monster attacking the town while you've been gone and we've had trouble tracking it down and stopping it! I could've used your _natural instincts_!”

“I'm sorry.” Raph shrinks a bit, now feeling really bad that he had been away. It had been selfish of him to leave like that when he was needed here. And at a time when the Captain wanted to use his skills for once! It was rare that Raph’s “instincts” were looked at positively.

“Where is Red Fox?" Captain Jupiter asks looking in various directions as if expecting his sidekick to appear at the mention of her name.

"She went to the healing house to check on one of the fire victims.” Raph tugs at his mask tails, his eyes darting around not sure where to look.

"Good to know she's back here, too. I'm going to patrol the edge of the town. You head to the healing hut to tell Red Fox of the situation. And if you see any large scaly monsters, you take it down!"

At the command, Raph immediately comes to attention and salutes. "Yessir, Captain Jupiter!"

“Remember what I always say? 'Act like a monster, become a monster.' Nobody likes a monster. That’s why we do what we do. You don’t want to be on the wrong side of justice, do you?” He gives Raph a pointed look.

Raph tells himself that the Captain is always saying these things to pump him up and get him ready for a challenge or to hunt a bounty. But he hates that it feels like these words are meant specifically for him, as a warning to what Raph could do ~~and has done~~. Either way, Raph knows that he’s always going to fight for good in the end. So Raph nods with determination, and in affirmation of the Captain’s words.

“Good,” Captain Jupiter says with a toothy grin. “So if you see any beasts rampaging around, make sure your justice is swift!”

Raph sucks in a breath, but stands up straight, hardens his features, and repeats, “Yessir.”

“Good lad.” The Captain nods with a pleased grin, and rushes off.

\---

Raph quickly makes his way down to the village square and over to the healing house, bursting through the door with a lot more speed and panic than intended when he gets there. Everyone inside gives him an inquisitive look and Raph tries to calm himself down and casually walks towards where he sees Red Fox and Mikey standing by a bed. In the bed is the gecko from before, now wide awake and bright eyed. Without the soot or bandages covering him, Raph can see that he’s a dull yellow color with dark speckles covering his features. He looks very relaxed next to the other two.

Mikey lights up at seeing the large snapping turtle enter the room. "Raph! You're just in time to meet my new friend!" Mikey gestures at the bed.

The gecko looks up with an easy smile. "Hey there," he says in a raspy voice. "The name's Mondo! You must be Raph?"

Raph smiles and gives a small wave at the yokai. "Yup that's me. You doing okay?"

Mondo nods and Red Fox explains, "He's mostly recovered from the fire, he just has a sore throat that may last for another week or so. The smoke did a number on his lungs. Right now we're just trying to figure out where his family is."

Mikey makes a small pained sound causing Raph to look at him. The younger turtle is rubbing his head as if it hurts.

"Hey, are _you_ okay?" Raph asks, concern tingeing his tone.

Mikey lets out a small grunt and says, "There's a lot of negative emotions in the area."

"Like what?"

"Unease... Fear..." Mikey flinches as if something struck him. "Oof, a lot of fear actually, but this seems like..."

Raph doesn't get to hear what that seems like, because there's a sudden shriek from outside. Oh, right - the reason why Raph came here. He grabs the attention of the red panda yokai. "Red Fox, the Captain told me that there's been a monster attacking the town."

"That must be it. Let's go!"

The two rush outside and sure enough a large creature is running through the streets causing many people to flee from it. It looks to be a giant alligator of some sort with hard scales and giant jaws snapping every which way. Raph summons his red limb projections and charges the beast while Red Fox leaps in the air. She lands on the beast's head and transforms her tail so it is long enough to wrap around its snout, locking its snapping jaws shut. Raph rams his whole body into the alligator in an attempt to knock it down. But even with his magic enhanced limbs the monster stands its ground and pushes back. 

There is a struggle; Raph puts more magic power into the red limbs and lets out a yell, growing a second pair of red glowing arms in addition to the two surrounding his actual arms. He tries to grapple the sides of the beast with the extra pair of magical limbs. However, the alligator seems to recognize the losing battle, so instead it rocks back a bit then sweeps out its large muscular tail. The lack of resistance from the gator combined with the tail flicking at Raph’s legs causes the snapper to lose balance and he falls over, landing on his snout. 

As Raph lifts himself up with a pained grunt, he sees the gator whip its head around, causing Red Fox to be flung into the wall of the healing house. His eyes widen in worry and he shouts her name. But his attention is then caught by the form of Mikey stepping outside the door with a look of horror on his face as he comes upon the scene. Behind Mikey he can see Mondo. For a second Raph wonders what he is doing out of bed, but he has much bigger things to worry about at the moment.

The large monster seems to have noticed the two smaller yokai as well, and it charges in their direction. Mondo looks like he's trying to say something, but the only thing that comes out of his mouth is a squeak. Mikey just stares up at the monster charging at them with a strange expression on his face. Raph doesn't have the time to ponder whatever feelings the empath is picking up from the scene around him and launches himself at the beast. He grabs hold of the monster's tail and digs his heels into the ground bracing himself. The gator is stopped mere feet from the two younger reptile yokai and turns around angrily to look at Raph. It launches itself at him with giant jaws opened lined with sharp, jagged teeth.

Red Fox is down, Mikey and Mondo and other civilians are around, and it's up to Raph to stop him. The Captain said to take the monster down. Raph pushes down the fear fluttering in his chest, and the twisted feeling he gets at the Captain’s implication of what he must do. He ignores the similarities between an alligator snapping turtle and an actual alligator, and allows the Captain's words to echo in his mind. “Act like a monster, become a monster.” Well, this is one monster that Raph is not going to let hurt his friends. He summons from deep down as much of his power as he can muster. His sclera turns black and his iris and pupil form into that of a blood moon. He gathers as much of his energy as he can around his fist. If he can just get one good powerful punch in as the monster leaps at him, he can end this.

Raph lets out a yell as he's about to launch his attack, right as the alligator snarls and his leaping attack arcs downward, towards the turtle. Suddenly something wraps around the alligator’s jaws, causing them to snap shut and the alligator to unceremoniously fall to the ground in an ungraceful heap. The gator looks so shocked that it seems like for a moment its anger is dispelled. Raph, too, is so surprised that magic swirling around his arm dissipates.

"Wait!" A voice calls out to them. Raph and the gator follow the voice to see Mikey standing there holding onto a rope. The rope is attached to the gator’s mouth ending in what seems to be some sort of grappling hook, glowing with magical energy. Mikey walks over to the gator with raised hands and says calmly, "I'm not going to hurt you. Just hold on a sec."

The complete lack of fear or malice coming from Mikey must confuse the alligator since it makes no moves to attack him. "You're just scared, right? And sad...? Like you miss someone?" The gator looks at the turtle with mournful eyes. Mikey slowly moves his hands towards the gator. Raph is about to stop him when Mikey holds up at hand in his direction, making Raph clamp his mouth shut before he can say anything. Mikey gently pets the large reptile's snout before loosening the rope around its jaws and says, "I think maybe they miss you, too."

Mikey gestures at Mondo who is leaning against the healing house, tightly gripping the front of his shirt, staring at the scene with wide eyes. As soon as the gecko and the gator lock eyes, Mondo tearfully runs over to the large alligator and calls out, "Leatherhead!" 

Mikey steps out of the way and positions himself next to Raph. Mondo throws himself onto the apparently named Leatherhead’s face resting his small head in between the larger yokai's eyes. Leatherhead closes his eyes and puts a gentle clawed hand over the gecko's back and pats him soothingly, letting out a rumbling trill.

Raph looks past the touching scene to see Red Fox pushing herself up and walking over to them. Raph rushes to her side. "Red Fox! Are you okay?"

Red Fox smirks and rubs her neck saying, "It'll take more than one raging beast flinging me into a wall to keep me down." She looks at the scene before them. "Though I guess he's not so much a raging beast anymore..."

Mikey giggles and explains, "I thought his aura and Mondo's seemed kind of similar, and you did say that Mondo was looking for his family. I thought maybe the big guy was looking for his family, too"

Mondo breaks his hug with Leatherhead, and speaks with him in hushed tones, likely due to the fact that his voice can't seem to go above a whisper at the moment. Even though Leatherhead seems to only respond in guttural growls and trills, Mondo doesn't seem to have any trouble communicating with him.

The two of them walk over to Raph, Red Fox, and Mikey. Mondo bows his head and rasps out, “I'm sorry for Leatherhead here. The big guy was just worried about me and didn't know where I was. Please don't be mad at him.” By the end of his short speech, Mondo's voice was losing power and the last part came out in a worried squeak.

A sense of injustice rings in Raph’s head. It is based on the constant lectures about right and wrong that the Captain taught him. And the fact that the Captain gave him a direct order to stop the monster that had been terrorizing the town. Raph looked in the eyes of said monster, and saw himself reflected back in its blank yellow eyes. Leatherhead is calm now and Mondo is just a kid. But Leatherhead attacked the town, apparently numerous times; scared a lot of people. Worried about his family or not, that was still a criminal act, and he acted like a monster. Captain Jupiter's words ring in his mind yet again. Despite the torment twisting in his gut, Captain Jupiter's justice should win out. Right?

Raph spoke sternly. "You could have caused a lot of people harm! And you broke the law! You need to learn--"

He stops when Mikey pats his arm and says, "I think they learned enough, Raph. This was just a misunderstanding and that's no one's fault. Yeah, and he might've done some not very good things, but Leatherhead here is not a bad guy! He was just looking for his family!" Mikey smiles happily at the two of them.

"But.. they..." Raph's resolve fades fast under the stare of Mikey's innocent eyes.

Red Fox steps next to Raph and puts a hand over his clenched fist. Raph looks over to her, and she looks wistfully at the pair. Something behind her eyes seems to tell Raph that maybe she's grappling with similar thoughts. Finally, she lets out a sigh and says, "Well, I did want to make sure you at least got to your family after all this, and it looks like that worked out. I think it might be best if you leave town quickly, though.”

Mondo grins and says, "No problem. We don't do too well with the cold. We were going to leave Bedu weeks back, but got separated in the fire. Sorry again for causing trouble.”

Leatherhead grumbles something and bows his head apologetically.

Mondo then hops up onto Leatherhead's back and the two quickly make their leave with Mikey waving happily after them.

Red Fox lets out a tired sigh and says, “I should check around to see if any real damage was done and to calm the townsfolk. You look like you could use a rest, Raph, why don't you hang back here?”

Raph nods. She is right, he is a bit tired, suddenly.

As Red Fox walks off, Raph backs up to the healing house, and slides down its wall to rest. He's looking down at his hands unsure of what to make of the situation. Should he have told Red Fox that the Captain wanted to stop the monster, maybe permanently? But it wasn't a monster, as it turned out. Yeah, it was just a misunderstanding... And looking around the square it seemed like he hadn't even damaged anything or hurt anyone. He was just scary... not evil. But what does that say for others with sharp teeth and claws... Claws that had, at one time... He scrunches his eyes shut, refusing to think about a pink scar on his friend’s face. He shakes his head to clear the images from his mind. As he opens his eyes, something orange enters his vision.

Raph looks up to see Mikey staring at him, almost looking as if he had been in as deep a thought as Raph had. "You did the right thing, you know, letting them go..." Mikey says, finally.

"I guess," says Raph. "Just one thing I don't get though... How did you know he wasn't a bad guy?"

"He seemed more scared than mean. Besides..." Mikey gives him a bright grin, one that looks like it trusts anything, especially what he says next: "Not everything is black and white like that."

Raph ponders this for a moment. For all of the things that Raph has learned about Mikey. All the confusing questions he still had. It's the meaning behind that statement, that Raph was sure he'd be confused about for a long time. It didn't ring true at all to what he'd been taught, and yet, the way Mikey had said it, it was as if it was the truest thing in the world.

Mikey sits next to Raph and pats him on the arm. “I guess today is another cool story that I'll get to tell – one with you and Red Fox again. You guys really are heroic!”

A smile tugs at the side of Raph's mouth and he rubs Mikey's head, “If anyone was the hero today, it was you, little man!”

Mikey laughs sheepishly. “Haha, aww, really?” he asks, but glows with the praise.

“Yeah, really.” Raph gives him a final head pat. “Better make sure to include _that_ in your story.”


	10. Epilogue - Sky

Raphael is in the village square back by the healing house, but it is strangely silent and devoid of people. No wait. Mikey is over there, looking at him. Mikey looks around. Looks at Raph. Confused.

A large alligator yokai looms behind Mikey, gearing up to attack. Leatherhead? Raph knew he shouldn't have let him go free! Raph rushes past the boxshell, ignoring Mikey calling his name, and charges into the larger yokai. Raph is surprised that this time it's much easier to overpower him than before. Leatherhead scrambles to regain his footing and it's Raph's turn to loom threateningly over the yokai, trying to appear tough to challenge the physically larger beast. But as Raph looks down at him, Leatherhead looks frightened.

Large pleading eyes stare back at Raph, and Raph sucks in a gasp as the emotion he feels from the gator is palpable. And surprisingly familiar. It's a feeling of being helpless. Othered. Hunted. Raph looks down. His hands are sweaty but look a lot more scaly all of a sudden. His nails are sharper. He is not wearing his gear or clothes; his spikey shell and plastron exposed. He tries to tug at his mask tails for comfort, but he isn’t even wearing his mask. He looks up to see that he's traded positions with Leatherhead. Except that Leatherhead is no longer there, and in his place is Captain Jupiter. Mikey is nowhere to be seen.

The Captain looks much taller and more imposing than normal, now towering over Raph and casting a dark shadow over the snapping turtle. The Captain smiles at him, but not in a friendly way. It's the kind of smile he directs at villains and monsters. One of triumph. Of overtaking his bounty. Raph shrinks back under the all too toothy smile. A whine escapes his throat as the Captain laughs heartily.

"I've got you cornered now, demon!" exclaims his mentor.

"Cap'n," Raph tries to say, but his mouth is dry and the word gets caught on its way up. He tries to clear his throat, but it comes out as an almost growl.

Captain Jupiter doesn't like that.

"You can't threaten me, evil beast! I will smite you like I have so many monsters before you!" The Captain points an accusatory finger at Raph.

The finger glows, and a red beam shoots out of the end of it hitting Raph square in the chest.

Raph's body stiffens from the strike and he falls to the floor, curled in on himself. His body twitches, but other than that he can't move. His breaths come quick and fast, but all too small against his tightening chest. He feels lightheaded. The Captain comes closer, cast in an even darker shadow, so much so that only his glaringly white smile shines through. Terror spreads through Raph's body. He tries to speak, but all that comes out is choked sobs as thick tears roll down his cheeks.

"I've got you now, monster." The Captain's voice deepens to something menacing and the word "monster" comes out distorted and inhuman. He extends a hand towards Raph, somehow appearing larger and larger as it stretches over him closer and closer. There to take him away. To lock him up. Like the monster he is. Only monsters have claws and teeth and spikes and sharp edges like him. Only monsters are large and menacing and scare folks at a glance. Only monsters hurt the people they love, leaving pink scars on their faces. Only monsters -

The hand that touches Raph's shoulder is soft and small. The tiny hand rubs his scales gently and the motion is paired with a gentle voice.

"Raph?" Mikey says. Quiet enough to not spook him; loud enough to be grounding.

Raph looks up at the small figure sitting beside him. Raph's eyes are blurry with tears, but even as he tries to wipe them away, he has to blink a few times to allow them to adjust because Mikey is glowing. Squinting a bit through the light he sees that it is Mikey's eyes. They're shining bright yellows and oranges. Like his fire. Like the morning sun. Breaking over the horizon. It's warm and comforting, and Raph tries to focus on that. He closes his eyes, still seeing the brightness through his eyelids, and takes some deep breaths. He swallows the lump that had formed in his throat and rubs his head a bit to clear it. After a few more breaths he opens his eyes back up. Mikey's eyes are no longer mimicking the sun, but a warmth still radiates from him.

"Raph. You're okay," Mikey says. It's a statement. Not a question. Because he knows. Raph nods and sits up, but Mikey's hand never once leaves him. Once in a sitting position Mikey rubs his shoulder and arm again. "You were having a bad dream."

Raph rubs the back of his neck and clears his throat and says, "Yeah, and you were in it."

Mikey gives Raph a sad, but meaningful smile. "I still am."

Raph pauses in rubbing his neck. Mikey does not pause in patting his arm. He blinks and looks around. They are in the sky. The fluffy clouds are tinged with an orange and peach sunrise. It feels like they're on solid ground, but whatever ground they're on is reflecting perfectly the morning sky around them.

Raph blinks again and looks at Mikey. "So none of this is real? You're not real?"

Mikey's freckled cheeks scrunch up and he giggles. "I'm still real, dude. I think you were dreamwalking again."

It takes a moment for that statement to sink in. "Dreamwalking?" He sure is doing a lot of blinking. "Again?!"

Mikey tilts his head to the side and quirks a brow up at Raph. "Yeah, you do it all the time!" He huffs out an amused laugh. "Do you not know that you're doing that?"

Raph shakes his head. But in the back of his mind a few flashes of faded memories return. Of Mikey's shell on a mirrored lake. Of Mikey in the forest. Of a figure in dark purple and another in bright blue. Oh man. How many peoples’ dreams had he accidentally wandered into?

"I'm - I'm sorry," Raph stutters out. "I'm not trying to pry, I just didn't notice before."

"Well, I guess if you're always fighting bad guys, you maybe never had time to practice your other magical abilities. Especially if you didn't even know you had them."

Raph looks at Mikey guiltily. Dreams can be really private. He didn't mean to mess with anyone's, least of all Mikey's. He's about to voice another apology, but Mikey squeezes his arm comfortingly.

"No need to apologize! I'm glad you're there for me in my dreams! You're always helping me out!"

The guilty feeling in Raph's gut lightens a bit. "Really?" He asks hopefully. Mikey nods. Then Raph realizes Mikey's word choice. "Wait, 'always?' How often have I...?"

"Pretty often, actually. For as long as I've had dreams, at least as I can remember. You always have those moon-eyes. It's why I recognized you in the fire!" Mikey smiles, and as he does the sun brightens around them.

"I- I'm sorry I didn't realize - I..." Raph stammers, still trying to take all this information in. Then yet another realization hits him. “Wait. Am I the Blood Moon Hunter?!”

"Well, yeah,” Mikey says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “But I was never sure that you were real until I saw you then, to be honest." He shrugs and waves his free hand emphatically. "I'm just glad I was able to help you out this time."

Raph looks away and scratches his cheek absently, thinking of the nightmare form of the Captain. It's bad that Raph was thinking of his mentor like that at all, even subconsciously. "Oh, you saw that..?"

Mikey shakes his head. "I didn't see much. Just a shadow, and then you crying. And I felt that you were really scared..." He looks at Raph with deep concern, "Are you okay...?"

Raph gives a small, but genuine smile. "Yeah, I am now." Mikey smiles back. Then Raph nudges Mikey very slightly. "I mean, you'd know, right?"

Mikey laughs, and lights reflecting off the clouds sparkle in time to his giggles. "Yeah, I would."

He gives Raph's arm another squeeze. "I'm really glad I could meet you."

"Same here."

"I'll probably be visiting the North again in the spring for more deliveries, but in the meantime, feel free to wander into my dreams again."

"You sure about that?" Raph says with apprehension. "I don't even know if I could do it on purpose."

"Well, this way it'd be good practice. AND," he emphasizes eagerly, "we'd get to see each other more often!"

"Yeah..." Raph's smile widens. "That'd be great!" It really would be.

"Cool!" Mikey gives Raph's arm a final squeeze before letting go.

The sky is filled with a bright orange flash.

Raph wakes up to an orange ray from the morning's sunrise peeking through his bedroom window. He squints against the sun's rays and sits up slowly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

He looks around his room. Right. Mikey had left yesterday after the whole Leatherhead thing, and brunch with Red Fox. He looks out at the beautiful morning sky, tinged with oranges and golds and a hint of peach, and smiles. It seems like he's going to be able to see his friend again sooner than he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been a really fun look into Mikey and Raph in this AU and everyone's feedback and support has meant a lot! I have much more in-store for these two for this story, so stay tuned ;3


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